Shazam! was Zachary Levi's first lead role in a superhero movie, but the Chuck star also had a brief stint in the MCU as one of the Warriors Three, Fandral the Dashing.
The character was played by a different actor, Josh Dallas, in the first Thor movie, but Levi took over for The Dark World. Fandral, Volstagg and Hogun didn't have very much to do in the sequel, and even less in Ragnarök when they were killed-off by Hela after appearing in just a few scenes.
While chatting to the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Levi opened up about his time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He confirmed that he was actually cast as Fandral before Dallas, but was forced to pass due to his commitment to Chuck.
"Listen, it was kind of a crazy sequence, because I was cast as Fandral the Dashing in the original 'Thor' film [that] Kenneth Brannagh directed. [I] was amped. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I didn’t get Captain America? Whatever, dude, I get to be Errol Flynn. I get this swashbuckling Lothario, like come on? What a fun role.’"
Levi went on to reveal that Kevin Feige told him his part would be more substantial, which is the main reason he agreed to sign on for The Dark World.
"I insisted on talking to Kevin about it, for two reasons. One, I saw the first movie, and I didn’t really feel like the Warriors Three were utilized in that great of a way. And I was like, ‘Is that going to be the case again, because if it is, I don’t really want to do that, you know?’ And he’s like, ‘No, no, no, it’s gonna be a huge part of this movie.’ Not so much, as it turned out."
Unfortunately for Levi, his DC Comics role may also be short-lived. Fury of the Gods has massively underperformed at the box office (it's only just limped past $100 million globally), so the franchise is unlikely to continue - especially with James Gunn and Peter Safran in the process of establishing an all-new DCU.